


Don't Say Nothing's Wrong

by sushishin



Series: Camelove 2021: Gillventures [6]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, Gen, Protective Will (Merlin), Will Lives (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29424144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sushishin/pseuds/sushishin
Summary: "So that’s what magic should be used for? To protect Uther Pendragon? Why? He’s the one person who’s the biggest threat to magic, and to you personally! You can’t tell me you’re okay, when you’re here, in danger, every damn day!"Will goes to Camelot to yell at Merlin for protecting Uther.
Relationships: Gilli & Will (Merlin), Merlin & Will (Merlin)
Series: Camelove 2021: Gillventures [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2150928
Comments: 5
Kudos: 39
Collections: Camelove 2021





	Don't Say Nothing's Wrong

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Camelove 2021 - Day 6: Always By Your Side

There are whispers of a sorcerer in Ealdor. 

_Kanen’s gone now, good riddance to that… but there was a battle, and wind just appeared out of nowhere…_

There isn’t anywhere he needs to be, after the tournament, so why shouldn’t he stop by Ealdor? It’s not far from Camelot, and Gilli isn’t looking forward to going home to his own village. Gilli thinks of finding another kindred spirit - wouldn’t it be nice, not to be alone?

When he arrives, though, he realises: these villagers don’t know who he is. They have no reason to trust him; the sorcerer is hardly going to reveal himself to a stranger. What’s he going to do, camp at the outskirts of the village, and hope to catch a glimpse of magic? He’d be better off trying to track down the druids. Then again, what are they going to do to him if he starts asking questions? He’s no stranger to hostile villagers; if he offends them, he can just leave. He’s in no danger here. They won’t try to burn him for being a sorcerer; this isn’t Camelot. 

The first woman he asks walks quickly away from him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says, not meeting his eyes. 

The man tending to the sheep just shrugs. “I didn’t see anything.”

The old man sitting next to the well, however, puffs up in indignation. “The sorcerer,” he spits, craggy face caught in a severe frown, “What a mence. I was minding my own business when he fell a tree, almost right on top of me!” 

“Are you sure it was magic?” 

Impossibly, the man seems to frown harder. “He wasn’t holding an axe. What else could it be?” 

It sounds like Gilli can just chalk it up to the old man’s failing eyesight, but it’s more information than he had been able to track down so far. “Can I meet him?”

“You’re welcome to him,” he scoffs, “But he left for Camelot.” 

If what the old man is saying is true, Gilli’s too late, he’s never going to find this sorcerer in Camelot. He sighs; back to his own village, then, it seems, tail between his legs. But as he’s walking past the last house, set slightly apart from the others, a man calls out to him. “I heard you’ve been asking around for a sorcerer. What do you want?” 

Gilli stops, heart thudding in his chest. “Just to talk.” Was the old man mistaken?

The man grunts, then turns back to his sawing. “So talk.”

It’s a different sort of courage, to say these words he’s never said before, different to swinging a sword at bullies, different to swinging a sword at Uther Pendragon. “I have magic.” 

The man stills, then looks up, eyes narrowed. “That’s interesting. Not many people say that. But again. What do you want?”

“I… heard there might be a sorcerer…” What _was_ Gilli hoping for? He hadn’t thought farther than finding the sorcerer. In the back of his mind, maybe, there was a yearning for someone to talk to, openly, someone who understood what it was like, someone like Merlin… 

“Say that again.” 

Gilli hadn’t realised he was speaking, blinks at the man, who is standing, tension in every line of his body, saw shaking in his hand. 

“What?”

The man grabs his arm, drags him inside his house. “You mentioned Merlin,” he hisses, his grip painfully tight. “What have you done to him?”

How could this man know Merlin? It might not even be the same person. “I met someone named Merlin in Camelot,” he says carefully. “He helped me.” 

“What did he look like?”

Gilli’s no good at describing people. “Uh, about my height? Really pale, short dark hair, uh, ears - ”

The man shakes him. “I swear, if you’re lying - ”

“I’m not,” Gilli insists, “Why would I lie about ears? What do you care about Merlin, anyway?”

The man releases him, steps back, and runs a hand over his ruddy face. “I know him,” he says. “I just want to know he’s safe.” He looks up at Gilli again. “What was he wearing?”

Of all the questions! How is Gilli expected to remember that? “Something brown?” He thinks back, remembers. “A neckerchief.”

The man huffs out a laugh. “I guess you did meet him,” he says, and the change is sudden: Gilli can still sense his mistrust, but he’s way more relaxed. “I’m Will.” He holds out a hand to shake, as if he hadn’t been threatening Gilli only a moment ago. 

“My name’s Gilli,” he says. 

Will leans forward eagerly. “So tell me. What were you doing in Camelot? And how did you meet Merlin?”

So Gilli talks about the tournament, of meeting Merlin in the armoury, of using magic to win his fights, until Merlin stopped him from killing Uther - _wait_. He freezes. He didn’t mean to say so much, he can reveal his own secret but not someone else’s, oh _shit - if he hopes hard enough, can he reverse time -_

“Merlin did _what_?”

* * *

Will is going to Camelot, and refuses to be convinced otherwise. He’s muttering to himself as he packs: _Merlin defending the king, what is wrong with him_ … _obviously he needs me there…_

“So Prince Arthur thinks that you’re a sorcerer, but you’re not,” says Gilli slowly, “And you’re just going to _walk into Camelot?_ ” 

Will barely looks up. “He won’t even remember my face,” he says dismissively. “If he does, he’ll remember that I saved his life, and Merlin thinks he’s honourable. He won’t kill me. Probably.” He grins suddenly. “I’d like to see him try.”

“He won’t need to try! He’ll just get the guards, or the knights - ”

“Only if he sees me,” says Will, shoving a couple of apples in his bag, “And anyway, I don’t care about all that; I just need to talk to Merlin. You coming?”

* * *

“Merlin never told me where he lives,” says Will, when they arrive in Camelot. There’s just so many people, and the castle is… bigger than expected. Of course, one option would be to find Arthur, but Will isn’t trying to get himself killed. 

“I don’t know either, he always visited me in my room,” answers Gilli, and ignores Will’s raised eyebrows. “But he was with an old man, once who offered to heal me… the court physician, I think.”

It’s not difficult to find the physician’s quarters: it seems like half the town has visited him at some point or another, but by the time they arrive, it’s late evening. Gilli pauses hesitantly outside the door, but Will knocks on it impatiently. 

They wait a moment, and then Merlin opens the door. He looks so… _exhausted_. 

“Will? What are you doing here?” He looks around at the corridor, then hauls Will inside. He almost slams the door in Gilli’s face, before stopping in surprise. “Gilli? You two know each other? How?”

Once the door shuts behind them, Will shrugs. “Oh, me and Gilli? We go way back.” 

“We met yesterday,” mutters Gilli. 

Will sighs, then reaches out to Merlin. “Come _here_ , idiot,” he says fondly. “How’ve you been?” 

“I’m fine - _Will, what are you doing here_?”

“It’s good to see you too,” says Will. “You don’t look fine.” He doesn’t: there’s circles under his eyes, he’s holding himself smaller, and his expression is troubled. 

“I’m _fine_ ,” Merlin insists. 

“If you say so. Now, what’s this I hear about you protecting Uther Pendragon?”

Merlin shoots Gilli a dirty look. “You don’t understand - come here,” he mutters, and drags them both into what could only be his room. He shuts the door, firmly. “Gilli - what have you told him?”

“All of it,” says Gilli. “It’s not like I knew he would come here to yell at you.”

 _Too right Will’s here to yell at him_. “Merlin, what are you thinking?”

“I just said that magic shouldn’t be used for your own gain! It can corrupt; it needs to be used for good!”

“You haven’t been corrupted,” points out Will. “It’s not for your own gain, is it, if you use magic to do your chores?”

“That’s not even - he was going to kill the king!” 

“So that’s what magic should be used for? To protect Uther Pendragon? Why? He’s the one person who’s the biggest threat to magic, and to you personally! You can’t tell me you’re okay, when you’re here, in danger, _every damn day!_ ”

“That’s not true! I was just protecting him!”

“Maybe I should leave,” mutters Gilli. “I’ll stand outside, shall I?”

They ignore him. “He wouldn’t need protecting if Uther were dead, would he? You’d be safer, too.”

“Will - “ Merlin sighs, and his shoulders droop. “Arthur’s going to be a great king, someday, and when he is, magic will be permitted again. But until then, I just have to do what I can.”

“You’re so focused on Arthur,” says Will. “How’s he going to get on the throne to be a great king if you won’t let Uther die?” Merlin doesn’t say anything, so he presses on: “It’s one thing to kill him yourself, but all you had to do was just _not do anything_ \- ”

“If Arthur were to see his father killed through the use of magic, it would harden his heart,” says Merlin quietly, and he’s like one of those puppets they had seen in a travelling show once: he’s speaking someone else’s words. _When Will finds out who that is_ \- he shakes his head. He can deal with that later. 

“It didn’t exactly soften his heart to me, when I saved his life,” he points out. “Arthur didn’t change his mind on magic then, did he?” Merlin’s silence tells him all he needs to know. “You say that magic needs to be used for good, but Arthur never sees any good magic, does he? You’re worried that if you’re found out, he still wouldn’t thank you for it.”

Merlin’s face crumples, and Will deflates. “I just want you to be safe, Merlin, don’t you understand?” He sighs. “I think Camelot’s changing you,” he says. “Won’t you come home?”

“I need to do this,” insists Merlin, and there’s tears in his eyes, and _why wouldn’t he help himself?_ Will looks away in frustration. 

Gilli speaks up. “Not by yourself, surely,” he says. “I get it, you know. But how many people are going to die, while we wait for Arthur to be king? We don’t even know if he’ll be any good.”

 _They’re all the same_ , Will thinks, but he knows what Merlin would say to that, so he holds his tongue. “If you won’t come home,” he says instead, “Then I’m staying. Someone’s got to look out for you, since you won’t.”

“No - it’s too dangerous for you, what if you’re seen - ”

He still doesn’t get it. Will hesitates, then lays it all out. “I’m worried about you,” he says. “You’re so focused on this dream that Arthur’s going to fix everything, that it looks like you’ve forgotten how important you are. And you’re important to me, more than anything. You’re my best friend, and I’m going to watch your back.” He pulls Merlin into a tight embrace. “Come on. It’s going to be okay.” Merlin isn’t crying, just like how Will isn’t crying. 

Gilli clears his throat awkwardly, and Merlin sniffles. “I think I’ll stay, too.” Will whips his head around, looks at Gilli in shock, but he shrugs. “I want to be free, one day,” he says. “And then neither of us will have to feel alone.”

Merlin makes a strangled noise against his shoulder. “Don’t try and change our minds,” Will says, patting Merlin’s back firmly. “You need us.”

Someday, Merlin will actually believe that he’s more important than Arthur. And until that day comes, Will isn’t going anywhere. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm nervous about posting this because I'm not entirely sure that I did Prince William of Ealdor justice. But I ran out of time... so here we are.
> 
> Title is from 'Better Be Home Soon' by Crowded House.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Comments are highly appreciated :)


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